The Clown and The Showgirl
by Madame Estrella
Summary: The clown will forever remain the alienated Other, never reverting back into a worldly prince, and always destined to watch the showgirl ride off into the sunset with a handsome suitor." - Rodney Huey. Sequel to "Clean Getaway." Joker/Harley Quinn
1. Rhiannon

**Disclaimer: Characters are property of D.C. Comics; I receive no financial gain from writing this.**

A/N: Harley Quinn is based on her portrayal in Brian Azzarello's "The Joker."

* * *

_"Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night  
And wouldn't you love to love her?  
Takes through the sky like a bird in flight  
And who will be her lover?"_

The blonde wore her hair in pigtails which bobbed about her head as she swung herself around the brass pole at center stage. She grasped it high above her head and threw her legs up in front of her, catching the pole and wrapping them around it before letting go with her hands. She arched her back in a controlled descent and hung upside down. She reached her hands up to her thighs and slowly dragged them down her legs, crossing them as they came past her waist and then letting them fall brushing the floor with her fingertips.

She was impressive to watch now that he'd bothered to take the time to do so. The men in her audience were there to shamelessly ogle her and stuff her garter with bills and her pussy with their dicks if they could afford it.

He was there for none of those reasons. Among other things, he was checking in on his ten-large investment and deciding on what she could do to earn that money. Since his encounter with the woman she had been burning up the stage time at the Iceberg Lounge and reportedly trying to get clean.

She was getting ready to bolt, and he couldn't have that until he'd gotten what he needed from her.

_"All your life you've never seen a woman  
Taken by the wind  
Would you stay if she promised you Heaven?  
Will you ever win?"_

He checked his watch and then glanced back up at the sound of wolf whistles from the crowd as she grabbed the pole and did a back-flip from it, landing solidly on her feet. He raised a brow in interest of her athleticism. For a coked out stripper, Harley Quinn was a talented woman.

His intent had been to kill the "inside guy" one of his men, Marty, had brought into the fold in order to facilitate his entrance to the mob meeting in the kitchen of the Iceberg Lounge. Cobblepot had emphatically refused Joker's admittance to the party so he'd had to come up with some other way to gain entry. Marty had not only provided that entry but also inside information that only someone close to one of the mob heads could obtain. Joker had been intrigued, but he didn't need to keep someone around who had sold out his own boss.

"_I told Harley it would be worth ten grand to get you in."_ Marty had chuckled to him while they stood in the kitchen of one of his other men. Marty was laughing of course because he knew that Harley was screwed.

Joker hadn't been happy with the arrangement as well as having to add another random body to the mix. Once he was inside he would drop Harley where he stood and go about his business.

He later learned that Marty had been laughing because he'd also pulled a fast one on his boss.

_"She is like a cat in the dark  
And then she is the darkness  
She rules her life like a fine skylark  
And when the sky is starless"_

He'd pushed through the door and had been retrieving his Cupid OTF knife from his coat when he heard a woman's voice gasp. He glanced around for this _Harley_ and then turned back to the door to find a petite blonde staring up at him with wide blue eyes.

"_Harley?" _ He asked and cocked his head to one side, narrowing his eyes at her. She smiled at him nervously.

"_Yeah, that's me, Harley Quinn." _She'd replied in a sweet voice.

Her long blonde hair spilled around her shoulders and against the deep red baby doll dress she wore. She wore dark lipstick and eyeliner, her legs clad in black thigh high stockings and she wore red low-heeled shoes.

She was beautiful and obviously a kept-woman of one of the mob leaders.

He found himself drowning in his own laughter.

_"All your life you've never seen a woman  
Taken by the wind  
Would you stay if she promised you Heaven?  
Will you ever win? Will you ever win?"_

After the meeting his mind had swam in anger. From Maroni calling him a "two-bit whack job" in his smug voice to Gambol calling him a Freak to his face and then putting a bounty on his head. Things could have gone worse, sure. He could have missed his mark with the pencil. He could have tripped on the blonde hunkered outside the kitchen door and blown himself up. He could have been shot in the back by one of the mob thugs, or left in the alley by his own men.

In the end things had worked out and it had been due to the assistance to the "inside guy" he'd meant to kill. The girl he now watched through the one-way glass in Cobblepot's office as she danced to Fleetwood Mac of all things.

He'd rewarded her for her efforts as well as to save face due to his idiot's promises. He'd returned to the henchmen's apartment only to find Marty dead on the kitchen floor and the other men babbling about a murderous stripper. He was only going to break the guy's arm. Marty had to be punished, but he wanted to keep him around for another job.

Harley had exacted her vengeance upon him before he'd gotten the chance, which had both surprised and amused Joker.

_"She rings like a bell through the night  
And wouldn't you love to love her?  
She was alive like a bird in flight  
And who will be her lover?"_

As it turned out she was Maroni's second favorite mistress. Not his kept-woman, but the runner-up. She lived from payday to payday and drowned her sorrows with drugs and alcohol. The only thing she had going for her was her talents in dance and in the bedroom.

She hadn't stricken him as a vapid airhead, like most of these girls did. Like Maroni's kept-woman was. She had been quick on her feet and keenly observant. And she hadn't looked at him with disgust as most women did.

She had observed him discreetly and looked him in the eye, a feat most found nearly impossible to achieve.

In her tiny apartment he'd found books, not cheap romance novels. Literature of worth and prizes of gymnastic ability scattered among them. He realized this was a woman who had lost herself and her self-worth somewhere along the way as she had tumbled from her ivory tower and into the seedy underbelly of Gotham. She wasn't a traitorous hired hand, only a woman who had decided that she no longer wanted to live the life of drugs and booze, taking off her clothes for money and lying beneath pigs like Maroni while they got off.

She was a resource he could exploit, so entrenched with the mob that they would never suspect her involvement with him. And in the end, she would thank him.

_"All your life you've never seen a woman  
Taken by the wind  
Would you stay if she promised you Heaven?  
Will you ever win? Will you ever win?"_

He glanced away from the glass briefly as the door opened and Cobblepot entered. The short, rotund man sported a dark blue suit and a monocle which Joker always thought hilarious.

"You're late." Joker said as he looked back at the smiling blonde who was crawling across the stage before rolling onto her back and reaching out, but not looking at anyone in particular. He wondered where she was in her head, it definitely wasn't here.

"Business" Cobblepot said unapologetically. "You have a nice prize on your head, Joker." He said as he followed Joker's gaze.

"The mob is broke" Joker smirked, "which is why I stepped in to offer up my services."

"You've really pissed off Gambol." Cobblepot said sitting down.

"He's jealous because I'm a better dressed man." Joker replied straightening his sleeves. Cobblepot laughed; the sound odd and birdlike.

"Maroni wouldn't be too happy to see you eyeing his girl like that." Cobblepot said pouring shots of whiskey for each of them. Joker downed his and then looked at the glass contemplatively.

"Maroni doesn't keep a close enough eye on that one anyway." Joker said tapping the glass on the desk and setting it down. Cobblepot refilled it.

"It's the clown thing, isn't it? Well to each his own. At least Gotham can rest easy that you won't be trolling birthday parties looking for love." Cobblepot smirked while Joker downed his whiskey. Joker slammed the glass down and shot a dark look at the other man. Cobblepot raised his brows, his monocle nearly popping out.

"I didn't mean anything by it, Joker." Cobblepot said raising his hands defensively. After a tense moment, Joker laughed and Cobblepot nervously joined him.

"Oh no; of course not." Joker shook his head. "So Oswald, can you tell me where Gambol is hanging out these days?"

* * *

A/N: "Rhiannon" lyrics are the property of Fleetwood Mac.

This is for everyone who wanted more from "Clean Getaway."

This story was inspired by a trip myself and Mr. Estrella (ha) took to "The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art" in Sarasota Florida this spring on our seventh wedding anniversary. We visited the "Circus Museums" and I read a copy of the essay "The Clown and The Showgirl" by Harry A. Atwell and Rodney Huey." I recommend that anyone who has the chance to, do go visit this museum.


	2. Tiny Dancer

Harley wore a red sequin bra and matching panties, garters and shoes. About her waist was a very short, sheer black skirt accented with diamond patterned appliqués on the front and rear. Her hair was pulled back into pig tails.

She climbed into her customer's lap in the champagne room and held a glass to his lips from which he drank. He wasn't attractive by any stretch of the imagination. He still wore the uniform of the service station for which he worked. His hair was greasy and he had grime beneath his fingernails. But he had money and that was why the manager had allowed him to rent the room and Harley's company for half an hour.

Music from the club pulsed through the room's speakers and Harley laughed when he made a joke. She tipped the glass for him again and set it aside, climbing into a straddling position across his lap on the couch. She placed her hands on his shoulders and moved against him in time with the music. His hands rose to her hips and she sat back and shook a finger at him.

"Now, now we know the rules." She said with a smile.

His touch had made her skin crawl in a mixture of disgust and a buzz of alarm. When someone broke the rules all she had to do was call security and the perp would be dragged into the parking lot and sent on his way with a black eye for good measure. In the champagne room no one was watching and she had to cry out in order to alert the guard in the hallway. Harley usually handled the men on her own but was now more on edge than ever with her impending 'retirement' growing nearer.

He had not seen neither hide nor hair of the Joker since that afternoon in the kitchen of the club and breathed a sigh of relief each night she came home and didn't find any correspondence from him. She knew he would eventually come calling, the money ensured he would. She hoped she would be long gone by then.

"Hey now," she said in a warning tone as the man's hands touched the waistband of her skirt. He narrowed his eyes and dropped his hands in a huff.

"Just tryin' to get my money's worth, sweetheart." He said sarcastically and licked his lips. Harley disguised a grimace with a forced smile.

"It's not like that here." She said.

"Oh? Well, I've had full-service before and I'll be damned if some uppity bimbo is gonna deny me." He snarled as he grabbed her roughly and threw her down onto the couch, climbing on top of her. Wet, sloppy kisses were on her neck as rough hands pulled at her scant clothing.

Harley glanced at the glass on the table beside them.

* * *

"You're gonna owe me in the end, Oswald." Joker said pointing at the other man with his glass before tapping it on the desk again. Cobblepot poured and laughed.

"How you figure? You're just one…clown. You're gonna take out all these guys and hold down the fort with your thugs and maniacs?" Cobblepot chuckled as Joker emptied his glass.

"I see a place for you in _management_." Joker grinned showing his yellowed teeth. "You haven't tried to screw me over, keep it like that and you'll be one of the guys left standing."

The phone rang and Cobblepot answered and listened then nodded to Joker when he hung up.

"Your boys are here." He said and Joker clapped his hands together and sat up, charged with a sudden jolt of electricity. A wide, sinister smile split his features and Cobblepot winced at the sight.

Someone pounded on the door and it was flung open by a burly looking man with a worried expression on his face.

"Boss, we got a problem." He said as a wriggling and shouting woman was dragged into the room and dumped unceremoniously on the floor. She looked up at Cobblepot and Joker saw she was covered in blood spatter.

"What the hell is this?" Cobblepot stood and ambled over to the dancer and took her chin in his hand and looked at her.

"She went after some guy in the champagne room, it's pretty bad." The man explained.

"I went after _him_?" She shrieked and there was a mix of fear and anger in her eyes. Red marks on her pale, bare skin threatened to bruise as tears welled in her pretty blue eyes.

Cobblepot shot her a glare and followed the other man out of the office to assess the damage. Harley sniffed and wiped her eyes as Joker stood. He held a hand out to her and she blinked up, noticing him for the first time.

"Oh" she said and blinked at him.

She gazed at him blank and he shook his hand at her. She took it and his gloved fingers closed around her pale ones as he pulled her from the floor to her feet. She leaned against the chair with her other hand and looked out the office window at the dancers on the stage. Joker looked at their still clasped hands and then at her face. He released her hand and she looked back at him.

"I didn't _just_ go after him." She said with a slight tremble in her voice. "He made the first move."

Joker nodded his acknowledgment that she wasn't just talking about the John in the other room. He glanced at the camera on the wall and back at her.

"You know 4200 Place?" He asked. She nodded absently and he sucked at his cheeks.

"This morning when you get off, go there." He said and she furrowed her brow at him when the door opened.

"Harley, that's a damn mess you left on my hands." Cobblepot said angrily as the dancer shrank back almost against Joker. Cobblepot looked up at him and then back at Harley and shook his head.

"Guess you two should be properly introduced." He muttered and crossed the room to flop into his chair which gave a squeal of protest.

"Joker, this is Harley Quinn. Harley, likewise" he said fixing a glare at her through his monocle. Harley averted her gaze from her bosses and looked at Joker. He tilted his head at her and she wrapped her arms around herself and looked back at Cobblepot.

"Care to explain yourself, Harley?" Cobblepot spoke around a cigar he was lighting.

"I told you I aint a hooker!" She snapped at him. "The guy got grab happy and then decided he was _'gonna get his money's worth.'_" She spat and then looked at Joker who looked back amused.

"Joker, you mind taking out the garbage on your way out?" Cobblepot said not looking at him. Joker chuckled and gave Harley a once over before heading to the door.

"I'll consider it a favor." He said as he exited.


End file.
